Obama to CEOs: "Show Some Restraint"

President Barack Obama said he "made clear" to bank CEOs who visited him Friday that they need to get rid of lavish bonuses and perks that have "angered the American people". 

"Show some restraint," Obama said he told the executives, according to an interview he taped Friday with Bob Schieffer of CBS News. "Show that you get that this is a crisis and everybody has to make sacrifices.

And these executives should tell this rabble-rousing hypocrite to stuff-it.

Obama takes a private jet to Hawaii for a lavish vacation, spends $18,000/hr on Air Force One to jet-out to the Left Coast and mock the disabled on the Tonight Show (no work more pressing in DC?), cranks-up the White House thermostat to Waikiki, throws garish,  extravagant parties every week while Rome burns... then feasts on $100/lb Wagu Beef on the taxpayers' tab.  

Such behavior is pretty crass when portraying himself as the champion of the oppressed masses- no different than Nancy Pelosi's expecting Air Force planes to be there whenever she snaps her fingers.  But what else should we expect from a President that has tongue-lashed the Detroit automakers repeatedly for not aggressively pursuing hybrids and green technologies... while his last car before heading to the White House was a two-ton, 300hp Hemi-powered Chrysler 300C? How could the President possibly take issue with appearances at AIG- has he no sense of irony?

If it's not appearances, then perhaps it's the actual dollar amounts involved that bother him so much.  But in actuality, -as Charles Krauthammer noted- the AIG bonuses in question amount to  "less than 1/18,500 of the $3.1 trillion federal budget... It's less than one-tenth of 1 percent of the bailout money given to AIG alone."  Seems that this bonus issue is being given attention out of all proportion to it's actual relevance- and for what appears to be political purposes.

Is it the legality that stokes Obama's sense of outrage, then?  Trouble there is that the only way to break a contract legally is Chapter 11....short of that, a contract is a contract. The AIG bonuses were agreed to before the government takeover- and are perfectly legal. These executives salaries, bonuses, and perks were written in stone prior to the crisis, and before Obama got involved... and he's known about all of it long before he saw a political opportunity in feigning "outrage". It should have deeply insulted anyone's intelligence who observed the spectacle of him with a frog-in-his-throat at last week's presser cynically remark "see, I'm choked-up with anger"-

The disingenuous Obama attacks perceived "class enemies" like the cigar-chomping Limbaugh and executives who got their perks and salaries from companies that were glad to provide them in exchange for services and talents... so where is the injustice there that offends him (and his infantile zero-sum economic view) so much? Perhaps one could argue that some of them are "overpaid", especially in the wake of the banking crisis- but that's what the market and the resultant contracts offered them- and they took it. Unlike Barack, they've got actual management abilities and resumes that have real value that someone is willing to pay for... some jealousy there, perhaps?

Someone needs to tell Obama that he can't just keep trashing the business class that made America a powerful machine of innovation and efficiency- nor can he just put all the CEO's on a rack and wring the money from them... regardless of what his wacked-out Marxist professors and Saul Alinsky told him.  There's a reason those losers drove a '74 AMC Hornet and lived in a studio apartment. And, the funny thing about eating-the-rich is... they know when to climb off the plate.

Enough already with calculated, specious drivel about a few million dollars while the Democrats drive this country into the ground with outlandish trillion-dollar spending sprees... the money for which will be drained from these same successful individuals when Obama-Reid-Pelosi crank-up their taxes to dig-out of the hole they're putting us in.  If anyone thinks it's in the nation's interest to discourage our best and brightest from working 15/hrs a day creating wealth and jobs by having them do it for $1/year, while taxing 90% of their bonus away (all the while telling them what bad people they are)- they're nuts. Those with talent and ability will simply abandon companies entagled in the government's draconian tenacles and go work for some boutique firm, offshore if necessary, where there isn't any leveraged job-creation... and they'll do fine no matter what.

The press and public keep taking-the-bait in Team Obama's red-herring attacks on Limbaugh, Cramer, Santorelli, business executives... while they enact a radical agenda with no debate in committee, skipping most standard appropriations proceedings... and breaking all promises for online disclosure prior to legislative votes.  Maybe a little public "outrage" there would be in all of our interests before we gamble our future away on unproven, exorbitant programs that we clearly cannot afford. 

Why aren't we talking about the inordinate spending proposals that Senator Judd Gregg  said "will bankrupt the country"... instead of further enabling the administration's Alinsky-inspired diversionary tactics and demonization of opponents? Said the Senator: "These are staggering numbers and represent an extraordinary move of our government to the left." (thanks Gateway Pundit and Free Republic)

As Barack lays his mojo on us -keeping approximately half the US electorate in the ether- it seems like the invisible hand of the market Obama so abhors is already drawing the line- and it's nowhere near where he wanted it to be.   The recent failed UK bond auctions and calls for an international reserve currency are bringing a harsh reality to Obama's radical spending fantasies, which of course depend on endless borrowing from those who now fear we will devalue our way out of it... or even eventually default. Hopefully the realization is dawning upon the American public that not only do we not have the money... but the day is rapidly approaching when nobody is willing to loan it to us, either. Maybe a decade with the fiscal pedal-to-the-metal isn't such a good idea after all.

It's about time for President Obama to "show some restraint" himself, instead of changing the subject and hectoring useful political targets- and not only in appearance, but in the unfathomable amounts of money he proposes that we borrow and spend, in his disdain for irrepressible market forces, his contempt of legal obligations that run contrary to his desires, as well as his growing disregard for the Constitution of this country.

America, Enjoy Your New Edsel

Americans that voted to bring us "Hope" and "Change" last November have now received the first shiny, new product from Obama-Pelosi-Reid & company... the Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, a so-called "economic stimulus" package consisting of approximately $800B in  profligate spending.  This amount represents a full 6% of US GDP, and is due to rise to well over $1.2 trillion with interest expense... because we're borrowing every cent of it.

It was rushed through  the House, bypassing most standard procedural steps, and with all previous promises of public disclosure abandonded.  A Rasmussen poll last week showed only 37% public support for the legislation in it's final form.  Not one House Republican supported it, and even a dozen Democrats chose not to have their fate chained to this lemon.  The Senate then passed their version of the package with a shameful display of expediency by three GOP Benedict Arnolds- Senators Snow, Collins, and Specter.  The final version was thus signed into law by Obama on Tuesday.

There are no effective economic multipliers for most of this untargeted spending... meaning little leveraged financial growth can be expected.  The Wall Street Journal stated that only 12% of this spendthrift binge could even remotely be considered an economic stimulus. And while Obama promoted it as necessary to address an urgent financial crisis, much of it will take years to work, if ever.  This bill is plainly an opportunistic move by Obama to cash-in on our economic concerns, as well as his own political capital... to trigger an huge increase in the size and scope of government in this country.

"You never want a serious crisis to go to waste" said Rahm Emanuel in an unguarded moment- and "We're going to spread the wealth around" said Barack in Ohio last fall.   Indeed-

Besides the lack of proven, effective stimulative spending in the legislation, when it comes to the kind of morale-boosting leadership that could help show us the way out of  this crisis, Obama has already made it obvious that he's no Vince Lombardi.  For a guy who was basking in the triumph of "Hope Over Fear" just three weeks ago, his recent calculated and specious fear-mongering is irresponsible, unhelpful, and appalling.  The president employed this technique in scaring legislators and the public into supporting his spending package, proposing vast liberal programs in the name of "saving us all", and heaping as much blame as possible on  the Bush Administration... while simultaneously dampening expectations for his own results.

With Obama giving us doomsday forecasts on a daily basis, what little hope any of us had for the economy has been extinguished.  His analogies to The Great Depression are not only meant to deceive, they're also inherently reckless. Political brinkmanship consisting of incessant warnings about a pending economic implosion aren't likely to raise consumer or investor expectations any time soon.  This ill-advised tactic has almost certainly hurt consumer confidence, delaying any turnaround in spending habits.  And instead of the MSM calling Obama on his inaccuracies and/or ulterior motives, they continue to kiss his posterior.

Thus, due to the resulting lack of confidence in our near-term economic prospects, Americans will simply sit on any cash that comes their way from this spending program, either saving or paying off debt... regardless of the amount of money thrown at the problem. Note the almost total lack  of economic impact from the Bush "stimulus" passed last year.... while the personal savings rate in the last quarter of 2008 was the highest in six years.

One of the keys to Reagan's economic recovery in the 1980's -when he created 20M jobs and grew the Real GDP by more than 30%- was the sunny optimism he brought to the country with his confident leadership and upbeat, reassuring belief in America.  A most vital factor in our overall economic mood is what the president is saying- so if he badmouths the economy, it tanks.  And if he is bullish and confident, the markets listen... and are more willing to invest in the future.  While Obama is riding a high-tide of support, a little optimism might have done us all a great service... especially in an economic crisis that's rooted in lack of confidence and stability.

Instead, Obama's remarks accentuated the negative, and for political purposes.  Everytime dissappointing data was released, to Team Obama it was a sign of impending doom.  According to their disingenuous narrative, this economy is the worst since The Great Depression.  And without Obama's massive spending bill, we may fall into an abyss from which we will "never recover".  This alarmist propaganda may have been useful to Obama politically, but it's inaccurate historically... and betrays very poor leadership qualities.

Back in reality, our current economic challenges don't even come close to those of the 1930's. Even a comparison to the 1981-82 recession is inappropriate at this point.   Ronald Reagan was handed by the incompetent Carter Administration almost 11% unemployment, plus double-digit inflation and interest rates.  The most recent statistics put the US jobless rate at 7.6%... with low inflation and interest rates approximating zero.  And in The Great Depression, jobs were being lost at double or triple the rate of 2008-2009... hitting a peak unemployment figure of 25.2% in 1932.

Auto production in 2008 was dismal, to be sure... declining by 25%.  But how does that justify Obama's comparisons to 1932, when US production collapsed by 90%?  The failure of a couple dozen banks last year isn't anywhere near the 10,000+ failures of 1933... but you'd never know it from listening to President Obama, out there spreading gloom-and-doom daily to force the passage of his misguided socialist spending spree.  Anyone who expected him to act in the best interests of the country -rather than for his own political security and leftist agenda- must not have paid much attention to how he got this far in the first place.

In bad times, banks also hang-on to their money for fear of making bad loans, no matter how many bailouts come their way.  With consumers also paying-down debt and saving money, the country will be awash with dollars once the economy gets back on it's feet, stoking vicious inflation sure to bring another recession... as the Fed will have no choice but to hike interest rates dramatically to check it.  So Obama's "stimulus" package isn't likely to stimulate much except inflation, and that only once the economy is already improving in the course of the natural economic cycle.

The Democrats have initiated this monstrous spending they know the country cannot afford-  so eye-watering  taxation will surely be on the way... once the trillion-dollar deficits roll-in, inflation is stoked to double-digits, and the dollar is in the toilet.  Thus, forced-upon America will be the liberals' dream of sticking-it to "the rich", deploying a redistributionist agenda through the back door.  This legislation is clearly nothing but a socialist Trojan Horse-  while presented as a bill to help the economy, it's really just a Democratic Party wish-list of liberal social programs, with an extra-helping of pork for all at the table.  Never mind that the millions of Americans making over $150K/yr. that will be soaked to pay for Obama's Marxist-professor-mentors' dreams (plus interest) are largely the job-creating entrepreneurs and small business owners that Reagan famously said are "responsible for almost all the economic growth" in this country.

This legislation will do far more damage than good- and it will hurt recovery by crowding-out private borrowers and consumers as government borrows massive sums to cover the deficit.  It will effect a permanent expansion of government, while forcing the country to  employ massive tax hikes that no sane candidate would ever admit to planning.

Then there's the socialism-by-stealth scheme that was snuck into the bill, to avoid public outrage... if anyone was still wondering why it was not debated in committee, why legislators only had a day to read it prior to the vote, or why it was not published first online....as Obama had promised repeatedly.

  

In an under-the-radar move towards nationalized health care, the "stimulus" package includes $19B to modernize health-care information systems, leading to computerization of all medical records by 2014.  While that's a worthwhile endeavor, and will create quite a few jobs eventually, this centralization of records appears to be laying the groundwork for the establishment of socialized medicine in this country.  The bill also includes another $1.1B for "comparative effectiveness research"- basically studying which treatments work better than others.  This looks disturbingly like a first-step towards prioritizing and rationing treatments in a future one-payer system.  None of these provisions were subject to  any kind of congressional consideration... no committee mark up, no debate on the floor... and of course no public acknowledgement whatsoever.  Both were just buried into the bill, like an earmark.

For all the talk of Obama's first legislative "victory", it showed him lacking the political stature to control Pelosi and Reid... who hit the trough hard, while bickering like siblings.  And the paucity of GOP co-conspirators exposed the president politically... this legislation now looks to be a huge gamble. When all this pork and welfare fails to generate real economic gains, the Democrats could face a bloodbath in 2010.  This is likely to be his first and last chance to get the economy back on-track before the mid-term elections.  Team Obama has bet the farm that this legislation will bear fruit, and quickly-  while historical precedent suggests there's little chance that it will.

"Now, look, I won't lie to you," Obama told a crowd in Florida last week. "If it turns-out that a few years from now people don't feel like the economy's turned-around, that we're still having problems, that folks are still unemployed, that our health-care system's not more efficient, then, you know,  you guys won't applaud me the next time I come down here."  And Obama never avoided calling the "stimulus" package "my bill" while promoting it around the country.  With almost no GOP support for the measure, there is little political cover for Obama if it doesn't work.

The Democrats now seem nervous as their fiscal Frankenstein comes to life... moving in-haste to dampen expectations, while they cover their backsides. Note how the White House initially said the bill would create 3M jobs... then it was 3.5M... as the debate went on, and public  support sagged, it was bumped to 4M jobs.  Now that the legislation has passed, it's already dailed-back to 3.5M new and "saved" jobs (whatever those are)... and "patience" was urged before Obama had even signed it.

Barack's shmoozing of the GOP was supposed to bring "bipartisan" support on the Democrats' terms... but with the strict party-line voting, that part didn't go-to-plan.  Unfortunately for Obama, he now owns this clunker. This legislation likely presages the death-knell of the mindless Obamamania phenomenon... and it won't take us much more than a year or so to find out.